Geneva, February 4, 2009. Cuba will present Thursday its report in the Fourth Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, where another 52 countries have already been reviewed. Cuban Justice Minister Maria Esther Reus will be in charge of summarizing the document, to later listen to the delegates' comments and offer her considerations about this issue. The island's First Deputy Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, deputy attorney general Rafael Pino Becquer, Deputy Communication Minister Boris Moreno and Deputy Work Minister Marcia Enriquez also join the island's delegation. "We are going to debate on the basis of mutual respect, present our truth, defend our achievements and show the world what we have achieved in human rights and social justice," ambassador Juan Antonio Fernandez stated. Fernandez, head of the diplomatic mission in Geneva, told recently Prensa Latina that "this exercise has so far taken place satisfactorily," although it is still to be consolidated. Mexico will be the Latin American country that will be reviewed in the UPR, in which two western powers like Germany and Canada received harsh criticism for xenophobia, discriminatory practices and abuses of immigrants, among others. (Cubaminrex- PL) |